{"id":318673,"date":"2023-07-25T03:34:39","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T03:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=318673"},"modified":"2023-07-25T04:59:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T04:59:26","slug":"crows-veteran-shuns-retirement-to-sign-new-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=318673","title":{"rendered":"Crows veteran shuns retirement to sign new deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adelaide<\/a> veteran Taylor 'Tex' Walker<\/a> has shrugged off retirement rumours, signing a one-year extension with the Crows.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old said the decision to re-sign came easy, with the improvements of Adelaide's young brigade a major factor in Walker's longevity.<\/p>\n

Walker, who has booted 54 goals in 2023 and sits second in the Coleman Medal race, has had a career-best season, including an impressive 10 goals against West Coast in round 13, his 250th match.<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> 'Absolutely devastated': Football icon dead at 69<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> BBC apologises over 'inappropriate' question to World Cup skipper<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Gallen reveals motive behind Luai's Penrith exit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Walker, who will notch up his 17th season in 2024, indicated there wasn't one specific moment, rather a collective shift around the Crows, that \ufeffhelped make his decision to sign on clear.<\/p>\n

"Over the year it has been a little bit pleasing for me to be able to continue to play some good footy," Walker said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"MELBOURNE,<\/p>\n

"The things for me is the growth in our young kids … it's made it easier for me playing as a forward. You're a product of what happens up the ground.<\/p>\n

"And the ability to recover each week. They're the few things that have helped make my decision pretty easy."<\/p>\n

Adelaide's all-time leading goalkicker \ufeffdid, however, deny that any conversations occurred surrounding a longer deal.<\/p>\n

"I comfortably stand here and understand that it's a business decision. I'm 33 going on 34, it would be pretty selfish of me to even ask that question," Walker said.<\/p>\n

"It's been pleasing to be able to perform each week. It's been pleasing to play some good footy at the back end of my career."<\/p>\n

The deal comes as Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes<\/a> questioned the career of Walker's teammate, Rory Sloane<\/a> on Footy Classified<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"ADELAIDE,<\/p>\n

Cornes believes it is time for the Crows to make the tough call on Sloane and put a focus on their future young stars.<\/p>\n

"For Adelaide and where they're going, you can't carry too many of these players," Cornes said on Nine's Footy Classified<\/em> on Monday night.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffBut Walker defended his close mate, confirming Sloane is still a required player at the Crows.<\/p>\n

"I think he's been able to play some really good footy, obviously coming off an ACL reconstruction at the age of 32-33," Walker said.<\/p>\n

Footy Classified is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via<\/strong><\/em> Apple<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,<\/strong><\/em> Spotify<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or<\/strong><\/em> Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"You want good players to hang around and he's still playing good footy."<\/p>\n

The Crows\ufeff host rivals Port Adelaide in the Showdown on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval, an event Walker likens to finals atmosphere.<\/p>\n

"I love playing Showdowns. Being captain for five years, you get involved in it a little bit more," he said.<\/p>\n

"(Power coach) Kenny (Hinkley) and Tommy Jonas won't like me saying it, but it's always good to beat the Power\ufeff."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adelaide veteran Taylor 'Tex' Walker has shrugged off retirement rumours, signing a one-year extension with the Crows. The 33-year-old said the decision to re-sign came […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":318675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=318673"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318678,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318673\/revisions\/318678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/318675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=318673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=318673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=318673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}